The Spirit of the Sea and the Three Pearls
Percy saw the man running at a speed impossible for any human being. Even he, being a demigod, could not run at one hundred and fifty damn kilometers per hour like that guy. Annabeth and Grover saw it too; their mouths opened so wide they could have swallowed air for an entire year.
Suddenly, the man running beside the taxi turned to look at them. And what they saw was hair. A lot of hair. It completely covered his face; maybe a huge dark beard or something like that. His hat didn't help; for some reason all that hair was pushed forward.
"Sir, speed up!" Annabeth screamed in panic after receiving that look from the man.
Meanwhile, Grover began trembling the same way he had when they were fleeing from whatever had chased them in Las Vegas, realizing that perhaps this man was the same thing.
"Uh, I'm going as fast as I can. Don't worry; we'll reach the destination soon," the driver said calmly with a confident smile.
The three of them couldn't tell him that they were seeing a man running alongside the car at the same speed, because the driver surely wouldn't see him. But they were terrified down to their cores.
At that moment, the wind seemed to rip off the hat covering the man's head. Then they realized something. It wasn't hair covering his face. Well, yes it was, but not the way they thought; it was an enormous mane of black hair. The man's face was covered in dark scales that spread across part of his features. And he had two reptilian eyes staring straight at them.
Those eyes met Percy's for an instant that felt eternal. But then, suddenly, the strange man's body stopped moving. Percy turned to look through the rear window and saw his figure rapidly changing into a black amorphous mass; that mass dissolved into dust for a moment before shrinking into a smaller shape, lying on the ground as if it were suffering. Then it transformed into what looked like a tornado of wind that began to form violently.
"Oh, shit," the driver muttered when he saw the rearview mirror, pressing the accelerator even harder. But luckily for them, that tornado didn't follow; it stayed in the same place for a while until they saw it disappear into the distance.
"Whew. That was close," the driver said with a sigh.
Seeing the terrified faces of the three teenagers, he assumed they had gotten scared by that little whirlwind.
"Haha, don't worry; those things are normal. They aren't real big tornadoes. They only lift dirt and stones. At most they'll scratch the car a little; nothing to be afraid of," the man added with professionalism, as if it wasn't his first time seeing something like that.
Obviously, the trio wasn't going to say that the tornado had been created by a man or monster that had been chasing them.
Meanwhile Percy had a thoughtful look. That man, who obviously seemed really strong and had been following them, had seemed to be… suffering. He remembered how he had seen him lying on the ground for a moment. And above all, the gaze that had crossed with his; that look made Percy tremble inside. But it hadn't been like the creatures he had faced so far, the ones that wanted to devour him or kill him. It was different.
Even so, after that strange moment, the car kept moving until, near dusk, they arrived at the pier. The three got off on the beach of Santa Monica.
The salty smell of the sea hit them immediately. They saw attractions lit up on the pier and people enjoying themselves there; palm trees by the sidewalks, homeless people sleeping under the wooden boardwalk, surfers waiting for the perfect wave even at that hour.
The three of them walked toward the beach, near the water, and stood staring at the waves.
"What now?" Annabeth asked Percy.
But Percy was staring at the sea while memories of Montauk came to his mind; training with his teacher, who, after beating him up, threw him into the water so he could heal. Then he would carry him like a sack of potatoes and toss him near the campfire, where his mother waited with some snacks.
Not counting the monster attack, the lightning storm afterwards, and the huge explosion his teacher had caused. For Percy, it had been a magnificent day. It also made him realize something.
He was the son of the god who was supposed to control two-thirds of the world. Or so the stories claimed, since his teacher had explained that two-thirds of the world was water. But thinking more carefully, his teacher had said there were other gods. And, knowing a few mythologies, there were gods from other pantheons who had the same power. So how did they handle that? Did they divide territories? Or did they all coexist like a city full of water gods?
Percy thought about these things as he took several steps without hesitation toward the waves.
"Percy!" Annabeth shouted, but Percy didn't even turn to look at her. He kept walking without hesitating. In moments, the water was up to his waist. Annabeth kept yelling.
"You don't know how contaminated that water is," she said, but Percy ignored her and dove in at once, submerging his head.
At first it was hard to get used to breathing underwater, but once he got it, he could do it easily. Then he kept swimming deeper and deeper.
It was really dark, but Percy could sense everything around him. He could feel the reefs in the distance, distinguish cold currents from warm ones. He blinked several times as he felt something in his vision, as if everything were slowly clearing. At that moment he felt something brush against his leg, so he looked down.
There was a one-and-a-half-meter shark, now that he could see it. Percy almost got scared, but the shark seemed friendly, almost like a dog sniffing him. Percy moved his hand and gave it a gentle pat.
The shark swam around Percy before tilting slightly, as if it wanted him to climb onto its back so it could carry him.
And Percy did exactly that. Instantly, the shark shot forward at full speed, dragging him toward the darkness at the edge of the sea; right where the sandy floor cut off and dropped into a dark abyss.
It was like standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon at dusk.
He was deep enough that the water pressure should have crushed any normal swimmer… but Percy was not normal. He shouldn't have been able to breathe down there either, and yet he was doing it while staring at the dark edge of the ocean.
Percy felt a sudden urge to try diving even deeper. But at that moment, a voice began to sound. It was a soft, feminine voice that, for an instant, resembled his mother's. That stopped him immediately.
Something luminous approached from the darkness of the depths.
It was a sort of transparent woman, wearing a green silk dress, with long black hair floating around her. The light flickered around her as if the water itself were illuminating her from within.
"Percy Jackson," the woman said softly, looking at him with beautiful and striking eyes. Beneath her, a massive hippocampus moved calmly, clearly used as a mount.
The size of the creature was ridiculous compared to what a hippocampus was supposed to measure, but there it was, majestically still. The woman dismounted and, as soon as she did, the seahorse and the shark began playing with each other like two excited dogs, swimming in circles.
The woman floated in front of Percy with a gentle, maternal smile.
"You have come far. Well done," she said in a tone full of pride.
Percy looked at her slightly, unsure how to behave in front of her. For a second, he was about to bow. But his teacher's words echoed in his mind; he shouldn't lower his head before anyone. So he simply nodded respectfully, without submission. Luckily, that didn't seem to bother her; she kept smiling just as softly.
"Are you the woman who spoke to me in the Mississippi River?" Percy asked, staring at her closely, since earlier he hadn't been able to distinguish her well.
"That's right," she said, nodding. "I am a spirit of the sea. It was not easy to reach upstream, but I asked the naiads—freshwater spirits—to assist me," she explained. "They honor Lord Poseidon, although they do not serve in his court."
"And you do serve in his court?" Percy asked.
She nodded again.
"It has been a very long time since a child of the sea god has been born. You are the only one in years. We have been watching you for a long time," she said calmly.
Percy then remembered the faces he thought he had seen in the waves back in Montauk.
"And why didn't he come himself?" Percy asked, finally voicing the question he had been carrying inside. Just like everyone at camp, he had that little hope of being able to see his father at least once, hear his voice, anything.
The woman shook her head.
"Do not judge the sea god harshly. He stands on the brink of an unwanted war. And he cannot help you directly; he cannot show favoritism. Not even with his own children," she said with a touch of sadness. Then she added, in a firmer tone: "That is why I give you a gift and a warning."
She floated a little closer.
"I know you are heading to the Underworld. Many mortals have done so, and very few survived to tell the tale. Orpheus, with his musical skill. Hercules, with his strength. And Houdini, who could escape from anywhere. Do you have any of those talents?" she asked, observing him closely.
Percy thought for a moment. Compared to those names, he didn't have a special talent like that. He shook his head.
"There is a very powerful prophecy in your destiny, Percy Jackson, and Poseidon will not allow you to die before reaching adulthood. So I will give you these pearls," she said while extending her hand.
Three shining pearls floated in front of him.
"When you are in danger, use them. They will take you to a safe place."
Percy stared at the pearls intently. Three, exactly three.
He closed them in his hand with a cold expression, so cold that even the water spirit looked at him more carefully.
"What is the warning?" Percy asked calmly.
"Follow your heart. Hades feeds on despair and is treacherous. When you are in his realm, he will not let you go easily; he will do anything to achieve it," she said with seriousness.
"I see," Percy replied as he stored the pearls in his bag. "Can you pass a message to my father?" he asked in a quiet voice.
"I am sorry. He is not in a place where he can receive a message right now," she said, with a sad glimmer in her eyes.
"It doesn't matter," Percy said as he turned around, just as the shark returned to him. The spirit raised a hand to try to stop him, but Percy had already grabbed the dorsal fin and the shark began swimming upward.
It left him near the shore, and Percy had to swim the rest of the way on his own. When he emerged to the surface, he had an incredibly cold look; an expression strange even for him.
"What happened?" Annabeth asked quickly.
"Nothing. I just confirmed something," Percy responded calmly as he reached into his bag and squeezed the three pearls tightly. "Come on, we need to finish this mission."